This document provides a biography of Julius Caesar from 100 BCE to 44 BCE. It outlines the major events in his life, including his family background, military and political career, alliance with Pompey and Crassus known as the First Triumvirate, conquest of Gaul, breakdown of his alliance with Pompey and subsequent civil war, and assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BCE by a group of conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius. Key characters involved in Caesar's life and assassination are also described.

1. Julius Caesar
Presented by: Group 1
Members:
Vince Gonzales
Daniel Legislador
Mark Tormon
Bea Pastrana
Shiho Hamashima

2. 100 B.C.E.
• Gaius Julius Caesar was born (by Caesarean
section according to an unlikely legend) of
Aurelia and Gaius Julius Caesar, a praetor.
• His family had noble, patrician roots, although
they were neither rich nor influential in this
period.
• His aunt Julia was the wife of Gaius Marius,
leader of the Popular faction.

3. 85 B.C.E.
• His father died, and a few years later he was
betrothed and possibly married to a wealthy
young woman, Cossutia.
• This betrothal/marriage was soon broken
off, and at age 18 he married Cornelia, the
daughter of a prominent member of the Popular
faction; she later bore him his only legitimate
child, a daughter, Julia.

4. 75 B.C.E.
• While sailing to Greece for further study, Caesar
was kidnapped by Cilician pirates and held for
ransom.
• After he was released, he crucified the pirates
and cut their throats to lessen their pain.

5. 72 B.C.E.
• Caesar was elected as a military tribune.

6. 68/67 B.C.E.
• Caesar was elected quaestor and obtained a seat
in the Senate; he married Pompeia, a
granddaughter of Sulla.
• He helped Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey), a
Roman politician, get an extraordinary
generalship against the Mediterranean pirates.

7. 65 B.C.E.
• He was elected curule aedile and spent lavishly
on games to win popular favor; large loans from
Crassus made these expenditures possible.
• There were rumors that Caesar was having an
affair with Gnaeus Pompey's wife, Mucia, as well
as with the wives of other prominent men.

8. 63 B.C.E.
• Caesar spent heavily in a successful effort to get
elected pontifex maximus (chief priest); in 62 he
was elected praetor.
• In 61 he was sent to the province of Further
Spain as propraetor.

9. 60 B.C.E.
• He returned from Spain and joined with Pompey
and Crassus in a loose coalition called by modern
historians ―The First Triumvirate‖ and by his
enemies at the time ―the three-headed monster.‖
• In 62, Pompey had returned victorious from
Asia, but had been unable to get the Senate to ratify
his arrangements and to grant land to his veteran
soldiers because he had disbanded his army on his
return and Crassus was blocking his efforts.

10. • Caesar persuaded the two men to work together
and promised to support their interests if they
helped him get elected to the consulship.

11. 56 B.C.E.
• Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus met in Caesar's
province to renew their coalition, since Pompey
had been increasingly moving toward the
Optimate faction.
• Pompey and Crassus were to be consuls again,
and Caesar's command in Gaul was extended
until 49 BCE.

12. 54 B.C.E.
• Caesar led a three-month expedition to Britain
(the was the first Roman crossing of the English
Channel), but he did not establish a permanent
base there.
• Meanwhile, Caesar's coalition with Pompey was
increasingly strained, especially after Julia died
in childbirth in 54. In the following year, Crassus
received command of the armies of the East but
was defeated and killed by the Parthians.

13. 52 B.C.E.
• Rioting in Rome led to Pompey's extra-legal
election as ―consul without a colleague.‖
• Without Julia and Crassus, there was little to
bond Caesar and Pompey together, and Pompey
moved to the Optimate faction, since he had
always been eager for the favor of the aristocrats.

14. 51 B.C.E.
• The conquest of Gaul effectively completed,
Caesar set up an efficient provincial
administration to govern the vast territories.
• He published his history The Gallic Wars.
• Pompey and Caesar were maneuvered into a
public split; neither could yield to the other
without a loss of honor, dignity, and power.

15. 49 B.C.E.
• Caesar tried to maintain his position legally, but
when he was pushed to the limit he led his
armies across the Rubicon River (the border of
his province), which was automatic civil war.
• After a remarkably short campaign, he returned
to Rome and was elected consul, thus (relatively)
legalizing his position.

16. 48 B.C.E.
• Pompey and the Optimate faction had
established a strong position in Greece by this
time, and Caesar, in Brundisium, did not have
sufficient ships to transport all his legions.
• Caesar pardoned all Roman citizens who were
captured, including Brutus, but Pompey
escaped, fleeing to Egypt.

17. June 23, 47 B.C.E.
• Caesar left Alexandria, having established
Cleopatra as a client ruler in alliance with Rome;
he left three legions under the command of
Rufio, as legate, in support of her rule.
• Either immediately before or soon after he left
Egypt, Cleopatra bore a son, whom she named
Caesarion, claiming that he was the son of
Caesar.

18. August, 47 B.C.E.
• After leaving Alexandria, Caesar swept through
Asia Minor to settle the disturbances there.
• On August 1, he met and immediately overcame
Pharnaces, a rebellious king; he later publicized
the rapidity of this victory with the
slogan veni, vidi, vici (―I came, I saw, I
overcame‖).

19. October, 47 B.C.E.
• Caesar arrived back in Rome and settled the
problems caused by the mismanagement of
Antony.
• When he attempted to sail for Africa to face the
Optimates (who had regrouped under Cato and
allied with King Juba of Numidia), his legions
mutinied and refused to sail.

20. July 25, 46 B.C.E.
• The victorious and now unchallenged Caesar
arrived back in Rome and celebrated four
splendid triumphs (over the Gauls, Egyptians,
Pharnaces, and Juba); he sent for Cleopatra and
the year-old Caesarion and established them in a
luxurious villa across the Tiber from Rome.

21. April, 45 B.C.E.
• The two sons of Pompey, Gnaeus and Sextus, led
a revolt in Spain; since Caesar's legates were
unable to quell the revolt, Caesar had to go
himself, winning a decisive but difficult victory
at Munda.
• Gnaeus Pompey was killed in the battle, but
Sextus escaped to become, later, the leader of
the Mediterranean pirates.

22. October, 45 B.C.E.
• Caesar, back in Rome, celebrated a triumph over
Gnaeus Pompey, arousing discontent because
triumphs were reserved for foreign enemies.
• Furthermore, the Senate was constantly voting
him new honors—the right to wear the laurel
wreath and purple and gold toga and sit in a
gilded chair at all public functions, inscriptions
such as ―to the unconquerable god,‖ etc.

23. February, 44 B.C.E.
• Caesar was named dictator perpetuus.
• On February 15, at the feast of Lupercalia,
Caesar wore his purple garb for the first time in
public.
• Caesar was preparing to lead a military
campaign against the Parthians, who had
treacherously killed Crassus and taken the
legionary eagles; he was due to leave on March
18.

24. March 15, 44 B.C.E.
• Caesar attended the last meeting of the Senate
before his departure, held at its temporary quarters
in the portico of the theater built by Pompey the
Great (the Curia, located in the Forum and the
regular meeting house of the Senate, had been badly
burned and was being rebuilt).
• The conspirators had only a band of gladiators to
back them up, while Antony had a whole legion, the
keys to Caesar's money boxes, and Caesar's will.

25. CHARACTERS

26. Julius Caesar
• A great Roman general and senator, recently
returned to Rome in triumph after a successful
military campaign.
• He is unable to separate his public life from his
private life, and, seduced by the populace’s
increasing idealization and idolization of his
image, he ignores ill omens and threats against
his life, believing himself as eternal as the North
Star.

27. Antony
• A friend of Caesar.
• Antony claims allegiance to Brutus and the
conspirators after Caesar’s death in order to save
his own life.
• Antony’s desire to exclude Lepidus from the
power that Antony and Octavius intend to share
hints at his own ambitious nature.

28. Cassius
• A talented general and long time acquaintance of
Caesar.
• Cassius dislikes the fact that Caesar has become
godlike in the eyes of the Romans.
• Impulsive and unscrupulous, Cassius harbors no
illusions about the way the political world works.
• A shrewd opportunist, he proves successful but
lacks integrity.

29. Octavius
• Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor.
• Octavius, who had been traveling
abroad, returns after Caesar’s death; he then
joins with Antony and sets off to fight Cassius
and Brutus.
• Antony tries to control Octavius’s
movements, but Octavius follows his adopted
father’s example and emerges as the
authoritative figure, paving the way for his
eventual seizure of the reins of Roman

30. Casca
• A public figure opposed to Caesar’s rise to
power.
• Casca relates to Cassius and Brutus how Antony
offered the crown to Caesar three times and how
each time Caesar declined it.
• He believes, however, that Caesar is the
consummate actor, lulling the populace into
believing that he has no personal ambition.

31. Calpurnia
• Caesar’s wife.
• Calpurnia invests great authority in omens and
portents.
• She warns Caesar against going to the Senate on
the Ides of March, since she has had terrible
nightmares and heard reports of many bad
omens.
• Nevertheless, Caesar’s ambition ultimately
causes him to disregard her advice.

32. Portia
• Brutus’s wife; the daughter of a noble Roman
who took sides against Caesar.
Portia, accustomed to being Brutus’s
confidante, is upset to find him so reluctant to
speak his mind when she finds him troubled.
• Brutus later hears that Portia has killed herself
out of grief that Antony and Octavius have
become so powerful.

33. Flavius
• A tribune (an official elected by the people to
protect their rights).
• Flavius condemns the plebeians for their
fickleness in cheering Caesar, when once they
cheered for Caesar’s enemy Pompey.
• Flavius is punished along with Murellus for
removing the decorations from Caesar’s statues
during Caesar’s triumphal parade.

34. Cicero
• A Roman senator renowned for his oratorical
skill.
• Cicero speaks at Caesar’s triumphal parade.
• He later dies at the order of
Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus.

35. Lepidus
• The third member of Antony and Octavius’s
coalition.
• Though Antony has a low opinion of
Lepidus, Octavius trusts his loyalty.

36. Murellus
• Like Flavius, a tribune who condemns the
plebeians for their fickleness in cheering
Caesar, when once they cheered for Caesar’s
enemy Pompey.
• Murellus and Flavius are punished for removing
the decorations from Caesar’s statues during
Caesar’s triumphal parade.

37. Decius
• A member of the conspiracy.
• Decius convinces Caesar that Calpurnia
misinterpreted her dire nightmares and that, in
fact, no danger awaits him at the Senate.
• Decius leads Caesar right into the hands of the
conspirators.

38. Famous Lines
• ―Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,‖
• "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your
ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.― –
(Act III, Scene II)
• "A dish fit for the gods.― –(Act II, Scene I)
• "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I
loved Rome more.― -(Act III, Scene II)

39. • "Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in
ourselves, that we are underlings.― - (Act
I, Scene II)